donation

Twitter grows up in aftermath of Haiti earthquake

In the wake of the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, Twitter has been serving as a major hub of information, the Nielsen Company reports. Nielsen refers to preliminary analysis of data indicating that Twitter posts are the leading source of discussion about the quake, followed by online video, blogs, and other social media.

Although most online consumers still rely on traditional media for coverage of the quake, they are apparently turning to Twitter to share information, react to the situation, and rally support. Sysomos, an analytics firm in Toronto, estimated that nearly 150,000 posts containing both “Haiti” and “… Read more

Online masses text to offer Haitian quake relief

The Web was flooded with people hunting for news updates on Tuesday and Wednesday following a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. People were also looking online for ways to help.

With envoys saying that much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, has been leveled and a death toll expected to run into the thousands, it was obvious early on that the catastrophe would require significant relief efforts on behalf of both governments and nonprofits.

These days, it's not a surprise anymore when much of the breaking news surrounding a natural disaster is … Read more

Study: Sites to bring in billions in holiday donations

Despite the recession, people are expected to be in a charitable mood this holiday season, as they shop online.

In the United States, cumulative online donations to charities could hit more than $4 billion during the holidays, according to a survey released Tuesday by marketing firm Convio. More than than 63 percent of those surveyed said they plan to donate money via the the Internet over the holiday season (November 1 through December 31, 2009), up from 51 percent in 2008.

Convio's "North American Technographics Omnibus Online Survey" for the fourth quarter of 2009 found that despite … Read more

Give a microdonation to your favorite charity

Making microdonations on the Web is a little harder than it once was. Many of the services I would have included in this roundup have shuttered in the past year. In fact, there are just a handful of viable such services left.

Regardless, each of the services listed below will help you connect with the charitable organization (or person) you care about most. You can choose a cause, decide how much to donate, and you're done. It's a really simple process. And if you're in the mood to share, it should be a rewarding one.

Get giving

#BeatCancer Although the #BeatCancer initiative that asked for users to include the hash tag in their tweets to raise cash for cancer awareness is over, the organization's site still allows users to make donations to four different cancer organizations. They include organizations dedicated to breast cancer awareness, childhood cancer, an organization dedicated to better research, and a group that provides support for cancer patients.

You can use the site to donate whatever you'd like to any of the organizations. You can also get the word out about the organizations by clicking on the "spread the word" option in each donation widget. Upon doing so, your Twitter account will be populated with a link for others to donate to the same organization. It's a convenient way to be social and contribute to the fight against cancer.

ChipIn ChipIn is a fine way to start raising money for the charity you care about. It also provides an easy way to get all your social-networking friends to dole out some cash.

When you get to ChipIn, you'll need to input the cause you're trying to raise money for. You can also input how much cash you want to raise over the term of the fundraiser. From there, you need to input your PayPal account. It works well, but it's the social element that might help most. With the help of ChipIn's Facebook widget, you can put your donation box in front of all your friends. You can also add plug-ins to your Web site. Overall, ChipIn makes it quite convenient to make and receive microdonations.… Read more

Nonprofits next to test Facebook payment platform

NEW YORK--Four nonprofit organizations will be participating in a test of Facebook's "credits" platform, marketing and outreach director Randi Zuckerberg said on Friday morning at the Social Good Conference presented by social-media blog Mashable.

"I just received confirmation yesterday that...we're going to be reopening up charity gifts in the Gift Shop," said Zuckerberg (who is, yes, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg). "We are exploring ways for developers to use the Gift Shop to offer...virtual, real, and charity gifts."

This will be rolling out next week with four test … Read more

Should you donate or recycle that old PC?

Not every computer user turns his or her attic into a graveyard for outdated, useless PCs the way I do, as I described in a post last week on the safe and sane way to dispose of an old hard drive.

But before you don the goggles and break out the power tools, consider whether there isn't some mileage left in the drive, as well as in the PC you removed it from. It has never been easier to find a nonprofit willing to sanitize and refurbish old computers.

However, if the system has indeed chomped its last bit, … Read more

Woman accused of hacking Houston organ bank indicted

On Tuesday, the FBI announced the indictment of a former technology director accused of hacking into the system at a Houston organ bank and deleting patient files.

The indictment alleges that Danielle Duann, 50, illegally accessed and damaged LifeGift Organ Donation Center's database in November 2005, shortly after she was fired as director of information technology for the company. She is alleged to have deleted organ donation database records and accounting invoice files from the network. LifeGift said that all of the records were restored from a backup and that no patients were put into jeopardy.

At the time … Read more

Fundrace: Check the big presidential campaign donors

The Huffington Post's new "Fundrace 2008" feature allows you to see who the big donors are in the 2008 presidential race campaigns, with a Google maps mash-up that lets you search by region, donor name, party affiliation and donation amount. It's a light-hearted but also serious look at who the big donors are (it mostly tracks donations over $200) and, in some cases, you can see who's playing "both sides". They also track donations from employees at specific companies. For example, Microsoft and Google employees have primarily given to Democrats by over 2:… Read more

Where are all of those donated XO laptops going?

Given all the interest around One Laptop Per Child's "Give One Get One" program, I've been wondering just where all those laptops that are being donated are actually going.

For those who have been in the dark, the organization is trying to boost its low-cost laptop program through a promotion in which people in the U.S. can pay $399 to donate one of the rugged Linux laptops and also get one for themselves. The program's terms and conditions say little, other than that it will go to a child in a country on the … Read more